The Great Highway in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset is one of the only residential stretches in the city where homes sit directly across from the Pacific Ocean. Facing Ocean Beach and the coastal dunes, these properties occupy a rare piece of San Francisco geography. As the Upper Great Highway evolves into the coastal park known as Sunset Dunes, and attention shifts toward the city’s western edge, some observers have begun asking whether this small stretch of oceanfront homes could become the “Billionaire Row” of the Outer Sunset.
Is Great Highway Becoming the “Billionaire Row” of the Outer Sunset?
San Francisco is not usually thought of as a city with oceanfront homes. Most neighborhoods are defined by hills, parks, or bay views. But along one stretch of the city’s western edge, something unusual exists: a small number of houses that sit directly across from the Pacific Ocean.
That stretch is the Great Highway in the Outer Sunset and Outer Parkside, where homes face Ocean Beach and the rolling dunes that separate the neighborhood from the Pacific Ocean. In a city known for density and urban energy, this part of San Francisco feels surprisingly elemental: wind, surf, sand, and sunsets. Over the past decade, demand for homes along the Great Highway, particularly those closest to Ocean Beach’s best surf breaks, has steadily increased, and prices have followed.
Which raises an interesting question: Could the Great Highway be quietly becoming the “Billionaire Row” of the Outer Sunset?
Not in the sense of hedge fund towers or Manhattan penthouses, but in the sense of something rarer: a tiny strip of homes defined by geography, scarcity, and unobstructed ocean views.
A Rare Piece of San Francisco Geography
Very few homes in San Francisco sit directly across from the Pacific Ocean. Sea Cliff looks out toward the Golden Gate and the outer portion of San Francisco Bay, while neighborhoods like the Marina sit firmly along the bay itself. Along Ocean Beach, the coastline is largely protected by dunes, parkland, and the broad corridor of the Great Highway. The result is something unusual for a major city: a stretch of homes facing the open Pacific, where the ocean brings a kind of wildness that feels both quiet and vibrant, and difficult to match anywhere else in San Francisco.
Where residential buildings do exist along this edge, they occupy a uniquely exposed and dramatic location: the western boundary of the city itself.
From upper-level windows, residents can watch waves breaking at Ocean Beach, fog rolling in across the water, and sunsets disappearing directly into the horizon. It’s a vantage point that is difficult to find anywhere else in the city.
The Great Highway’s Changing Identity
In recent years, the character of the Great Highway has begun to evolve.
The Outer Avenues once had a rougher edge, with cruising culture along the Great Highway, drag races late at night, and a reputation that felt far removed from the rest of the city. Much of that character has faded over time. Today, sections of the Upper Great Highway have been converted into a coastal park, creating a long public promenade where people walk, bike, and gather to watch the sunset. The shift has subtly changed how people experience the western edge of San Francisco.
I used to love driving up the Great Highway from the south toward home on 48th Avenue, watching the sun drop into the Pacific or checking how the surf was breaking at Ocean Beach. Today the Great Highway is becoming something new, and it seems to be changing how people experience that stretch of coastline.
For nearby homeowners, the change has made the area feel both more connected to the ocean and more visible to the rest of San Francisco.
Scarcity and Coastal Living
Part of what makes the Great Highway unique is simply how limited the housing supply is.
There are only a small number of homes that sit directly across from Ocean Beach, and many of them share similar features:
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unobstructed ocean views
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immediate access to the beach and dunes
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proximity to Golden Gate Park
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a walkable Outer Sunset neighborhood culture
At the same time, the surrounding neighborhood retains its distinctly local character, with longtime institutions like Outerlands, Hook Fish, and Devil’s Teeth Baking Company helping anchor the community.
The result is an unusual combination: coastal living within the city limits of San Francisco.
A Snapshot of the Great Highway Today
One example of this rare geography is 1738 Great Highway, a home currently on the market directly across from Ocean Beach. From its upper levels, the house looks out across the dunes toward the Pacific, offering a view that captures what makes this stretch of the city so distinctive.
What Are Homes On Great Highway Selling For? Take a Look.
1738 Great Highway - Home For Sale On The Great Highway
I don’t expect the Great Highway to become an actual “Billionaire Row,” but the idea points to something real about this stretch of San Francisco: it is one of the city’s most unusual residential settings, where urban life meets the raw edge of the Pacific Ocean.
San Francisco has many neighborhoods with beautiful homes, but very few places where houses sit directly across from the Pacific Ocean. Geography alone makes the Great Highway one of the city’s most unusual residential stretches.
As more people rediscover the west side of the city, and as Sunset Dunes park continues to reshape the coastline, this small stretch of homes may become one of the more closely watched stretches of real estate on San Francisco’s outer edge.
Homes along the Great Highway rarely come to market, and when they do, buyers who are looking for that specific combination of ocean views, surf access, and proximity to Golden Gate Park tend to pay close attention. For homeowners along this stretch who are curious about how the recent interest in the west side may be affecting values, it can sometimes be useful simply to understand how buyers are currently viewing these properties.
CONTACT INFO
Oliver Burgelman
Vanguard Properties
415-244-5846
https://burgelmanhomes.com
